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Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

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Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#281

Post by NoGravitas »

arcastroe wrote: post #57
fn-mote wrote: post #42

Understand that you're not going to finish what you start. Do things that are fun. Keep a notebook of ideas. Talk about plans and what you want do. Spend time with him. Even if almost none if it ever makes it into code, the imagination part will be going wild. Look at what he's really doing. He doesn't want to CODE. He wants to make a game. Like every kid. Emphasize the creative part just like he wants. Do things on…

When I was ten years old, I played a lot of web games built on Flash technology and asked my parents how I could build my own. My parents sat me down and taught me the very basics of how to code. I didn't learn very well from them, but they also bought me a textbook and I learned great from that. By age 12, I had recreated a lot of the games I was fond of, pacman, snake, space invaders, etc. Maybe the bar was lower f…

MIT's Scratch is very good for making the equivalent of flash mini games. My 9yo loves making animations and platformers on it.

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#284

Post by paraxion »

fn-mote wrote: post #42

Understand that you're not going to finish what you start. Do things that are fun. Keep a notebook of ideas. Talk about plans and what you want do. Spend time with him. Even if almost none if it ever makes it into code, the imagination part will be going wild. Look at what he's really doing. He doesn't want to CODE. He wants to make a game. Like every kid. Emphasize the creative part just like he wants. Do things on…

Thankyou. And thankyou to OP. I have exactly the same situation as them, and spend a lot of time beating myself up that I can’t help him realise his never-ending torrent of creative flow. But you’re right: I need to immerse myself in it with him. Thankyou.

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#285

Post by zoomablemind »

bentt wrote: post #273

I am a professional game developer and have been in the industry for 25 years. I am a few years ahead of you with a 14 year old son whose interest in computers and gamedev I've been cultivating since he was around 4. What I find interesting about your post is that your son is designing on paper. He may be a Game Designer at heart and not a technologist, so you'll have to tease that out. The difference would be whethe…

Solid advice!

I think at this age kids just naturally want to have their footprint in the digital world. Games is just an obvious space.

On the same subject, when my 5yo came up with a very detailed comic story, all hand drawn in a span of two days, we just scanned the drawings and put them in a video sequence.

Sure, the grand vision was some real action, but seeing his work digitized and animated has served it's inspiratory purpose.

Also, it gave this 5yo some ammo in conversations with his peers who would brag about "creating their own game in Roblox".

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#286

Post by jetbalsa »

nirui wrote: post #101
jetbalsa wrote: post #78

I would say Garry's Mod + Lua Scripting / WireMod Easy to get into since its rather old at this point and its easy to get bootstrapped with simple logic in WireMod, Its how I learned programming, has multiplayer and really supports messing around.

I modded a game (tho not hl) for many years, I come here to opposite this. I think since the kid is interested in building a game that they designed themselves, it's better to handover a (simple) game engine to him. A game engine enables way more possibilities than modding. You can add multiplayer over websocket/webrtc, you can write your own shader, you can write your game logic however you want etc. All of that wit…

Oh for sure, I would not suggest doing HL2 Engine Modding, I had suggested it because it has the lowest barrier of entry to get started for a someone that young. Basic Wiremod can make some rather complicated contraptions. and once you start going down the Lua route with a custom gamemode you can just about make anything, I've seen mario clones to RTS done with Garrysmod gamemodes

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#287

Post by kybernetyk »

>Joke aside, what can I do?

nothing? I mean back when I was 9 I was sending level designs to Nintendo - which they replied to but said "thanks but no thanks". Then I decided to learn programming and got on with it. BASIC then Pascal then C - my parents both didn't have any clue about computers and the only help I really got from them was the computer they bought me and that they drove me to the local library so I could get programming books.

let him figure it out by himself. chances are he loses interest but also that he catches the programming fever. you can't really do anything as a parent other than helping with the logistics :)

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#288

Post by mikelabatt »

My oldest son is 5, and I am having some of the same thoughts.

What system did you do the demos on in the 1990s? Might a "classic" system like that not be the "contained" environment you are looking for as a learning environment? And you are even good at that! Systems like the C64, Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200 are still references for current demoscene competitions. They are timeless, you can find them on eBay or emulate them, and your son will be able to show his skills on those even 10 years from now.

If you are afraid that these are not cool enough for your son, fear not. At retro events like VCF, Pixel Heaven, or in the dedicated area at Gamescom, children line up to play on those systems, and for some it is an element of great pride to be experts in them.

My answer to your question looks like this at the moment: I will start with a CBM 8032, after showing him how arcade games of the 1980s were. Then I will add a bit of color, sound, and maybe sprites, via a VIC-20 or C64. And then, if things go well, we can add multitasking and more OS and chipset features by exploring one of the last cool systems where you could try to master every secret: the Amiga.

It doesn't have to be "retro for life". But I think that learning with a "simple" past like this, also makes you better appreciate the present and the future.

Re: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

#289

Post by otachack »

Pico-8! There are also zines people have made with straight up "type this in and it'll make a game" like many HN-friends here have gone through with BASIC and other languages.

Seeing how young your kid is they may fall off it but I think pico-8 is immensely accessible to anyone and contains all the tools needed for making a game.

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